The Nato Secretary General, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, has asked the 26 members of the alliance to heed calls for more international troops for Afghanistan. He told the BBC some Nato members were carrying more of the burden than others in the fight against the Taleban. Nato leaders have asked members to pledge some 2,500 extra troops. Nato leads the International Security and Assistance Force (Isaf) in Afghanistan, which currently includes at least 18,500 personnel. Some 37 nations have committed troops to the Isaf deployment. Conflict between international troops and Taleban fighters has grown in intensity this year, especially in the southern regions of Kandahar and Helmand. The militants, who were ousted from government in 2001 by Nato-backed forces, have proved to be a far more determined enemy than anticipated, says the BBC's Alastair Leithead in the capital Kabul.... http://news.bbc.co.uk

The chief of intelligence for the Marine Corps in Iraq recently filed an unusual secret report concluding that the prospects for securing that country's western Anbar province are dim and that there is almost nothing the US military can do to improve the political and social situation there, said several military officers and intelligence officials familiar with its contents. The officials described Col. Pete Devlin's classified assessment of the dire state of Anbar as the first time that a senior US military officer has filed so negative a report from Iraq. One Army officer summarized it as arguing that in Anbar province, "We haven't been defeated militarily but we have been defeated politically -- and that's where wars are won and lost." The "very pessimistic" statement, as one Marine officer called it, was dated Aug 16 and sent to Washington shortly after that, and has been discussed across the Pentagon and elsewhere in national security circles. "I don't know if it is a shock wave...http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/10/AR2006091001204_pf.html

America is a nation divided by vast differences in life expectancy, a "longevity gap" that can't be readily explained by race, income or access to health care, a study reported Monday. In fact, when viewed through the prism of life expectancy, there are eight Americas, with decades separating groups consisting of millions of people, report Harvard's Christopher Murray and his colleagues. His team examined state and county life expectancies, the risk of death from specific diseases, health insurance and access to health care for major population groups from 1980 to 2001. They found that life expectancy differences are driven mainly by chronic diseases in young and middle-aged adults. Income, infant mortality, violence and HIV/AIDS, which now responds to drugs, played less of a role. Among long-lived people 15 to 44, the death toll from chronic disease was as low as among the Japanese. The profile for the group with the shortest life span resembles Russia. "...http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-09-11-life-expectancy_x.htm?csp=34

It's been nearly 30 years since the nickname "Governor Moonbeam" stuck to Jerry Brown during his years as California's chief executive. The thick hair, wide ties and quirky image have given way to a balding gray buzz cut and middle-age paunch.Long a bachelor, the 68-year-old onetime date of singer Linda Ronstadt even got married last year.The peripatetic Brown — two-term former governor, three times a Democratic presidential candidate, now finishing his second term as mayor here — has lost none of his enthusiasm for public office.Brown is running for California attorney general, and a poll shows him comfortably leading his Republican opponent, state Sen. Chuck Poochigian of Fresno. But Brown's bid for the job of the state's "top cop" has hit a bump over his record on crime leading one of the USA's most violent cities....http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5337080.stm

Bush has said the fight against terror is a "struggle for civilisation", in a speech marking five years since the 11 September attacks. Addressing the nation from the Oval Office, Mr Bush called for a unified country to "meet the test of history". Earlier, Mr Bush attended solemn ceremonies in New York, Washington and Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Mr Bush has only made five such addresses to the American people - the first was on the day of the attacks. Mr Bush said the so-called war on terror was much more than a military conflict. "It is the decisive ideological struggle of the 21st century and the calling of our generation," he said during the speech, broadcast during primetime on US networks. The test of history will show how stupid we were to follow these leaders when the truth was there to see all the time, it just took a little looking. Instead, most believed the lies and supported this Illegal war and traded their freedom for Illusionary safety. History will not be kind....http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5337080.stm

A suicide bomber struck Monday at a funeral for a provincial governor assassinated by the Taliban a day earlier, and four senior members of the government at the service escaped unhurt, officials and witnesses said. At least six people were killed and dozens were wounded. The blast went off near a tent where more than 1,000 people had congregated in Tani district of Khost province in eastern Afghanistan at the funeral for Gov. Abdul Hakim Taniwal. He was killed Sunday along with two other people in a suicide attack outside his office in Gardez, the capital of neighboring Paktia province. Taniwal was the most senior official killed in a series of attacks by supporters of the Islamic regime, which was ousted by U.S.-led forces for harboring Osama bin Laden in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. ...http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2419961